Annunciator system.



H. CALDWELL. ANNUNGIATOE SYSTEM.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 5, 1911.

Patented Apr. 8, 1913.

Z SHEETSSHEET 1.

iiiiii liTTOR/VEYS H. CALDWELL.

ANNUNGIATOR SYSTEM.

APPLIGATION FILED DEG.5,1911.

1 @58,545@ Patented A101: 8, 1913.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

ATTORNEYS UNITED STATES PATENT ()FFlCE.

HENRY .CALDWELL, F FORT MICHIE, NEW YORK.

ANNUNCIATOR SYSTEM.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 8, 1913.

Application filed; December 5, 1911. Serial No. 664,011.

To all whom it may concern .Be it known that I, HENRY CALDWELL, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Fort Michie, in the State of New York, have invented a-new and Improved An- 7 nunciator System, of which the following is indicate corresponding parts in all the views,

' I a pedestal 9 having holes 10 through it, this and in which Figure 1 is a perspective view showing the annunciator casing provided with .a window and with a movable character Wheel which may be seen fragmentarily through 7 is a detail showing the hand operated switch mechanism, and particularly the hand lever and brushes which it carries.

A casing? is provided with an outer peripheral wall 8 and is further provided with pedestal being'secured directly upon a support. The casing 7 is provided with an opening 11 which serves the purpose of a window, and is hereinafter referred to as such. Mounted within the casing 7 and concentric thereto is a circular magnet support 12. This magnet support is provided with a disk-like face 13 havin an annular neck 14, this neck terminating in a disk-like wall 15 serving as a bearing. A spider 16 is provided with radially extending arms 17 (see Fig. 6), these arms being provided with bent portions 18 which engage the inside of a circular drum 19, as will be understood from Fig. 4. The drum 19 is made of suit' able material, such as celluloid, and is, for the most part, both dark in color and opaque to light. It is provided, however, with a number of legends or intelligible characters (see Fig. 2) which, in this instance, are numerals. These characters aretransparent, or at least translucent, and are rendered visible'throughthe windowll (see Fig. 1) when the interior of the drum is illuminated at night. The characters are also because of-their white color, visible in the day time,

there being then no illumination within the drum. The spider 16 is mounted rigidlv upon a revoluble shaft'20. An electro-magnet having ends 21, 22 is also mounted rigidly upon this shaft, the ends of this magnet belng of opposite polarity.

The magnet support 12 encircles the shaft 20 and, as above explained, is stationary. A number of electro-magnets 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, .31, 32', are mounted upon the magnet support 12, and extend radially in- 'ward from it, as will be understood from Fig. 5.

The spider 16 carries a facet ring 33 (see Fig. 6), which is secured upon'the arms 17 by aid of pins 34. A spring 35 engages the acet ring and is mounted directly upon the portion 13 of the magnet support. Brushes 36, 37 extend through the neck 14 and are insulated therefrom. These brushes engage collector rings 38, 39 which are also insulated from the neck 14 and from each other. The brushes 36, 37 are electrically connected with the magnets 21, 22, these magnetstogether thus constituting an armature, and the brushes 36, 37 and collector rings'38, 39 having a relation to the armature analogous to that found in a dynamo or motor, for the purpose of establishing electrical.communication between the ends 21, 22 and other parts aside from the casing, as hereinafter described.

I provide lamps 40, 41 for the purpose of illuminating the interior of the drum. A

43 carries three brushes 45, 46, 47 insulated.

from other parts and analogous to' the brushes used upon a motor or dynamo. The

construction of the lever 43 and parts carried by it can be best understood by reference to Fig. 7.

Adjacent to the path of travel of the brushes 45,4 6, 47 are a number of stationary contact sectors 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 5-6, 57. Connected with these sectors are a number of wires 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, these wires leading respectively to junctions 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, and by aid of these junctions the'wires in question are connected with the various magnets carried by the magnet support. Connected with the dynamo 42 are Wires77, 78, and connected with these wires are two other wires 79, 80. The wire 79 leads to the brush 46, and the wire 80 is, by aid of wires 81, 82, in constant communication with the brushes 47, 45.

Wire's 83, 84 are connected with the Wires 77, 78 and also with the wires 79, 80. Connected with the wires 83, 84 are two Wires 85, 86, which are also connected, through the medium of the brushes 36, 37 and collector rings 38, 39, with the ends 21, 22. For the sake of simplicity, the brushes and collector rings are omitted from the diagram (Fig. 5), but are shown in detail in Fig. 6. Connected with the wires 83, 84, and also with the wires 85, 86, are two other wires 87, 88 which lead to the lamps 40, 41.

The parts are so arranged and proportioned that no matter in what position the hand lever 43 may be stopped, the drum 19 will take up some definite position, and in such position some one of the numerals carried by the drum 19 will be completely exposed to view, as indicated in Fig. 1. The action of the spring 35 (see Fig. 6) upon the facet wheel 33 insures that all of a single numeral will be displayed through the window 11, there being as many of these numerals as there are facets upon the facet wheel 33, and the several facets of the facet wheel, as well as the several numerals carried by the drum, correspond to the number of effective positions of the hand lever 43.

Of the ten magnets 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, when energized, five are always of one polarity and the other five of a differentpolarity. The five magnets of the one polarity always form a semi-circle and the five magnets of the other polarity likewise form a semi-circle, the two semi-circles being disposed in opposite relation to each other. The two ends 21, 22 are also of opposite polarity.

The operation of my device is as follows: 1 will suppose at the start that the hand lever 43 occupies the position indicated at the right of Fig The brush 45 now engages the sector 49, the brush 46 engages the sector 54, and the brush 47 does not engage any sector. The following circuit is now completed: dynamo 42, wires 77, 79, brush 46, sector 54, wire 63 and junction 73. The

magnets.

posite sense. Such being the case, the armature is in equilibrium, being so attracted that any torque which may tend to develop,

by a magnetic pull in one direction, is off set by a contrary torque tending to turn it in the opposite direction. The armature, therefore, takes up a neutral position, as indicated in Fig. 5, the drum assuming the position indicated in Figs. 1 and 2, so that a particular numeral (in this instance the numeral 6), is displayed through the window 11. In order that the numeral displayed may be seen from a distance, the lamps'40, 41 are illuminated. The circuit through these lamps is as follows: dynamo 42, wires 77, 83, 87, lamps 40, 41, wires 88, 78, back to dynamo 42.

The armature is constantly energized by the following circuit: dynamo 42, wires 77 83, 85, (connection shown in Fig. 6), ends 22,21, wires 86, 84, 78, back to the dynamo. Suppose, now, that the hand lever 43 be turned, say, in a counter-clockwise direction, according to Fig. 5, so that the various brushes 45, 46,47 are moved in the same counter-clockwise direction by distances representing the consecutive distances be tween two of the sectors; that is to say, the brush 45 disengages the sector 49 and engages the sector 48. The brush 46 moves out of engagement with the sector 54 and into engagement with the sector 53. brush 47 moves one step nearer the sector 57, but as yet does not engage it. It is evident that the wires 58 and. 62 are now energized, and as these wires are connected withithe junctions 67 and 72, the magnets now energized in one sense are those numbered 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, whereas those energized in the opposite sense are those numbered 2'8, 29, 30, 31, 32. A. torque is now produced on the armature by the reason that the five "magnets having one polarity will tend to move the armature into a virtually neutral position, and the tendency of the other five magnets of opposite polarity is to do the same thing, to wit, to move the armature into said neutral position. This means that the armature will turn in a counter-clockwise direction, according. to Fig. and for a distance representing the annular distance between two consecutive The further movement of the lever 43 in a counter-clockwise direction causes the armature to turn one step farther The in the same direction. A movement of the hand lever 43 in a clockwise direction, however, causes the armature to turn likewise in a clockwise direction, the angular distance of rotation being commensurate with the number of sectors passed over by the swinging movement of the hand lever, and

this in turn being commensurate with the numerals of the arcuate scale passed over by the hand lever.

If it happens that the hand lever 43 is moved sufliciently in a counter-clockwise direction to disengage the brush 45 from the sector 48, and to bring the brush 47 into engagement with the sector 57, the same system is carried further, the line "of division of the current being, in this instance, between the junctions 7 6 and 71, so that the armature 21 rotates correspondingly in a counter-clockwise direction and assumes a position relative to and controllable by the position of the hand lever 43. The aggregate result is that any swinging movement given to the hand lever 43 ispractically duplicated by a similar movement of the armature and the movement in question is indicated by the appearance of the drum as seen through the window 11, the numeral here displayed corresponding to the particnlar numeral associated with the arcuate scale 44 and hidden by the outer portion of the hand lever 43.

If desired a number of the annunciator casings 7 with their contents may be arranged in a series so that the various nu- I do not limit myself to any particular use for the annunclator system above described, nor tothe exact arrangement shown for the various parts, nor to any particular materials to be employed in construction, the scope of my invention being commensurate with my claim.

Having thus described my invention, what Iclaim as new and desire to secure by Let.

ters Patent is An annunciator system comprising. a plurality of magnets arranged in the a proximate form of a circle, electric mec anism controllable atwill for selectively dividing said magnets into two groups of opposite polarity, an armature controllable by said magnets and adapted to turn into different positions dependlng upon the distribution of the magnets into groups, and indicating mechanism connected with said armature and controllable thereby.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

HENRY CALDWELL.

Witnesses:

JoHN WILL-1AM WORRALL, Jr., JOHN T. MGANIFF. 

